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Ownership told Flip Saunders to play kids in Washington and that they understood losses would follow. But when the Wizards started 2-15, without discipline, consistent effort or signs of improvement it was too much. The Wizards have fired Saunders, first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo. CSNWashington.com confirmed the move. Current Wizards assistant and former…

Here is our daily look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT). Tonight (Tuesday), HBO’s Real Sports will profile the Van Gundy brothers — broadcaster (and former coach Jeff) and current Magic coach Stan. They talk about…

The fine folks in Dallas continue to say it’s not his knee, it’s conditioning and strength issues that have Dirk Nowitzki out for a week. Not sure I buy it, but that’s what they are selling. But this little note from ESPNDallas.com turned our head — he could be out longer. Depending upon the progress…

This is not rocket science, but the Timberwolves are finding a way to screw it up. Minnesota has until Wednesday to reach a deal on a rookie contract extension with Kevin Love. Love is an All-Star, soon to be Olympian, double-double machine (39 and 12 Monday night) and the face of the franchise’s marketing efforts…

A wise man once said that nobody’s goal should be to break all-time records while playing in the NBA Development League. While that would seemingly be the case the majority of the time — it implies a player’s simply been “developing” a bit too long in the D-League — Blake Ahearn broke the mold this…

The Hornets have lost eight straight (in a heartbreaking way on Monday) and it looks like they will be without Eric Gordon for at least three more weeks due to his bruised knee, according to Marc Spears of Yahoo. Gordon had more tests done Monday by a specialist in New York and the report is…

What you missed while getting that nail you didn’t know you shot into your head removed… Celtics 87, Magic 56: Don’t go overboard with any “the Celtics are back” hype yet, but they got a quality win in our game of the night. Spurs 104, Hornets 102: New Orleans loses a lot of games but…

Somebody had the DeLorean with the flux capacitor in New Orleans because clearly somebody went and got the 2001 Tim Duncan and brought him to the game Monday night. That or the night off Saturday really helped him, because we were treated to a vintage Duncan performance (28 points). The highlight of that is the…

For one night, it felt like 2008 in Boston again. The Celtics played with tremendous defensive energy, shutting off driving lanes and seeming to choke off whatever the opposing offense wanted to do. They contained Dwight Howard and chased down a lot of three-point shooters. Boston set a franchise record for fewest points allowed. The…

O.J. Mayo shows up in almost as many trade rumors as Dwight Howard. The Grizzlies shopped him around last year, when he was having a rough season, and there were so many rumors it seemed like he was destined to be gone. But things are different this year — Mayo is having his best season,…

2-time MVP Steve Nash has always been game for a good viral video. His latest entry involves him auditioning for ESPN’s “Winter X Games Real Snow” competition by pulling the ultra-dangerous “corn chopper,” which is apparently too awesome to be shown — all we get to see is Nash’s teammates reacting to the trick, rather…

One of the reasons the triangle offense worked for the Lakers is that Pau Gasol can pass or knock down the jumper from the elbow. He has a polished set of skills on the low block, too. In the Lakers new offense Gasol gets a lot more touches at the elbow or in the midrange,…

Derrick Rose will be back on the court with his Chicago Bulls Monday, slicing and dicing what passes for the New Jersey Nets defense. He’d missed five games with a sprained big toe, essentially a turf toe injury by any other name. He tested it out at shootaround and then later in warmups and decided…

Bruce Bowen was the guy asked to cover Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Richard Jefferson — whoever was the best perimeter player on the other team. Night after night, playoffs after playoffs. His elite defense, as well as his reliable corner three, were key parts of three San Antonio Spurs titles, so the team is going…

It’s one of the “highlights” — and we use the term loosely — of Friday night of All-Star weekend: NBA rookies taking on NBA sophomores (officially called the Rookie Challenge). There’s a lot of showboating and not a lot of defense — basically a less interesting version of the All-Star game itself. But this year…

Abandon all expectations ye who enter here: alleged Knicks savior Baron Davis is officially playing basketball again. Davis underwent a full practice for the first time since signing with New York in December, and according to the Associated Press, the team hopes he’ll be available for his regular season debut at some point during the…

Who was the big culprit in the Kobe Bryant vs. Shaquille O’Neal feud that broke up the Lakers? Was it the Type A personality of Kobe driving the wedge? Did Shaq need to be “the man” so bad that he held back Kobe (Shaq wouldn’t learn to share the spotlight until Miami)? Robert Horry will…

Believe it or not, we are about a quarter of the way through the condensed NBA season already. And with that, these rankings are starting to take some solid shape. Which is bad news for Celtics and Knicks fans. But it’s all good in Chicago. 1. Bulls (15-3, last week ranked No. 1). If Derrick…

In case you missed it because you were busy watching the Harbaugh family suffer on national television, Kobe Bryant was on “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” helping people who actually suffered. Real loss. The show was working with a family in Joplin, Missouri, who lost everything last year in a tornado that decimated the town. Kobe…

Bill Walton is a guy with his priorities in the right place. Three years laying on your back will do that — he told me again that he thought his life was over at points during that time — and now that he is back up after an innovative surgery his outlook on every day…